The demise of the training manager and the impact for project management

I was asked if I would contribute to a market survey looking at training prospects.

One question threw me: What are your thoughts on other aspects of our expectations for 2013? I thought long and hard about the answer to this question and wrote:

“We are seeing as part of the cutbacks in companies the demise of the ‘training manager’ or OD manager. In their place is some young person who is told to “organise a (project management) course” for a group of people. They know very little and you cannot get access to the person making the original request.

In other words, the demise of the ‘training manager’ post (or equivalent) will I believe stifle growth and understanding in the training market.”

While I do not spend all my time training I do spend a lot of it working with groups helping them to develop their project management skills and expertise.

I am dealing with a small segment of the market – project management and the implications for companies if the training manager post disappears could be profound:

project management identified as a need with no one supporting the need for training – it is low priority

Sending the wrong people onto the wrong courses. I still get people on courses who are substitutes for someone else who dropped out at 0915, and to avoid being charged they send someone who is not involved and will not be involved in project management – so why are they on the course?

a fragmented approach to training in project management – funds provided by training not being spent correctly – several providers used, several approaches supported

people being sent on expensive qualification courses who need a more practical approach

a lack of overall control on project management training. Ask yourself this: how much money is invested in project management in your company? Can you afford a piecemeal approach to investment in this area?

If you want highly trained staff then surely you need a concerted effort to help identify needs, develop training, and evaluate its success. Of course there is a word in that statement IF!

Are you seeing the demise of the training manager role, and if so, how is this impacting on project management in your organisation?